Jane Niles stepped into the Dealer Room and looked around. She was amazed at the activity going on. Everywhere she looked, there were people buying and selling a wide range of merchandise, from 8x10's to videos to toys to fan magazines to jewelry. She couldn't believe her show, "Project: Wormhole", had generated so much interest.
The crowd was varied as well. Some looking like any one who might come in off the street but many in their own versions of the uniforms worn on the show, both by project members (khaki slacks with a navy polo shirt and a navy short jacket adorned with the Project logo), and some of the more popular enemy races like the Kraken.
Jane was one of the costars of the hit syndicated sci-fi series "Project: Wormhole." It was loosely based on the movie "Wormhole" from almost a decade before. The movie had done so-so at the box office but very well on video and cable. That caused the producers, who had made box-office blockbusters (like the alien invasion movie "Spring Training" ) and bombs (like the American version of "Gamera"), to license the rights to the concept to a new production company, Chameleon. The show had taken off and was now ready to start it's fourth season under the newer production company. The movie's creators, on the other hand, were busy trying new series' for Fox that never lasted more than half the season.
The series centered on an artificial wormhole created in a government lab that allowed a special team of research scientists to travel across time and space to have new, exciting adventures every week.
Jane played Doctor Therese Rutherford, the chief scientist at the Project. The doctor was a quantum physicist with a medical background. She was a well-respected member of the project and had helped save the survey team several times through various ingenious methods (few of which could ever work in real life). The woman had no apparent social or personal life and rarely even smiled in the show.
While in character, she wore her long, auburn hair tied into a tight bun with severe glasses and a long, shapeless lab coat over the standard Project uniform and came across as stern and forbidding. In real life, Jane was a very pretty, charming lady with near-perfect eyesight. She laughed and told raw jokes and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She also dressed in more complimentary clothes off-camera that tended to show her shapely figure. Unfortunately, lately, her personal life was even less exciting than the non-existent love life of her television character.
Hers was only a recurring role originally, not a series regular. Her character only rarely traveled through the wormhole. She mainly had to stay at the Project and wait for the survey team to return. Recently, however, due to fan insistence, her character was being developed and used more. Her hair was also a little looser and her glasses were a softer, rimless style.
She stopped at one of the many booths that featured commercially licensed toys and memorabilia from her show. Looking at a collection of action figures based on the show, she saw one of her character. It was six inches tall and wore the standard white lab coat and black-framed glasses. This was the first time Jane had seen her toy. She was fascinated.
"How much for the Dr. Rutherford figure?" she asked.
The goateed young man behind the table, wearing a t-shirt that said "E.T. Go Home" replied, "All the figures are $6.00." Then he added in a stage whisper, "I should charge more for the Rutherford. They're hard to come by."
"Why is that?" Jane asked.
"The toy people didn't think she'd sell that well and didn't make too many of them. The demand is higher than they expected and they have to go back to press or whatever they call it," the dealer replied.
Noting the dealer tag showing his name was Dave, Jane asked, "Why is it so popular, Dave?"
Dave smiled and said, "Wait a minute..." He walked behind the partition at the rear of his booth and came back a moment later. Handing Jane an unpackaged figure, he said, "Look under the lab coat..."
She smiled and took the six-inch figure from Dave and pulled the small cloth coat back. The figure was molded in the Project uniform. She was surprised but somewhat complimented to see that the figure was quite well proportioned. "She's rather busty, isn't she?"
Dave snorted and said, "Yeah! That's why she sells so well. You know the girl who plays her on TV? I don't think she's that stacked."
Jane smiled and said, "You never know. Oh, do you have the Amelia Tripp figure too?"
Jane left the booth with the action figures for the two main women on the show thinking, 'Sandy's going to love this. Her action figure is less developed than mine.' Then she glanced down at her well rounded chest and added with a chuckle, 'Just like real life.' Of course, her shorter stature did tend to emphasize her attributes.
Sandy Carson was the show's star. She played Amelia Tripp, the survey team leader. When the series premiered John O'Toole played the lead, Robert E. Anthony. He had to leave when another pilot he filmed was picked up and had a contract that had been signed earlier. His other show didn't last more than half a season but by then the fan reaction to a female lead had assured his character's fate as an occasion guest star, which he had agreed to originally to get out of his contract with Chameleon Productions.
Jane wasn't in on the planning sessions when it became clear John wasn't coming back, but she heard what had happened. The producers were dead set on getting another male lead, but the creative team finally convinced them that a strong female lead could work. They pointed to the success of "Xena" and "Star Trek: Voyager" as their arguments. She had hoped her character would also benefit but she remained in "co-star" status with gradually increasing screen time.
Still it gave her time to do other work, including movies of the week for Lifetime and other production companies as well as the occasional big-screen appearance. Recently, she had the feeling that she was on the verge of a big change in her professional life. A larger role on the show perhaps?
As she walked through the dealer room, she continued to be fascinated by the wide range of memorabilia was for sale. She had attended a "Star Trek" mini-con with her roommate in college, but that long-ago con was nowhere near as big as this one.
She stopped at a small booth manned by a young girl with long, curly, dark red hair. She was selling fanzines from various shows. Jane saw one with the "Project: Wormhole" logo and an original drawing of the cast on the cover.
"Hmm. 'Project: Wormhole' eh? Original fiction?"
The girl, who looked to be around twenty, looked at Jane and became nervous. Jane tried to give her a reassuring smile and saw from her tag that her name was Erin.
"Hi Erin. These look interesting. How much are they?" Jane asked.
"Uh, I, uh, you're the doctor on the show...Oh no."
The girl was obviously upset. Jane tried to sound comforting as she asked, "What's wrong, hon?"
"These," she said, indicating the fanzines. "You're probably going to sue for copyright infringement. Oh God, I told Nat we shouldn't come here."
"Hey, it's okay. I'm on the show but I'm not worried about these. I think it's flattering that people like the show enough to write their own stuff. This one looks interesting." Jane picked up a small digest-sized 'zine with scanned images of herself and Sandy in a rather intimate position on the cover. It was titled "Amelia and Therese: The Secret In The Project."
"How much is this?" Jane asked, her eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Oh no. You wouldn't like that." Erin was horrified. "It's really bad."
